Race: Italian Grand Prix
Date: 4 September, Sunday
Time: 8pm SGT/1pm BST/5:30pm IST
Venue: Monza
TV Channel: Fox Sports 2 will provide live TV coverage in Singapore.
Live Updates: The race updates will be available on the official site of Formula One.
Overview:
Lewis Hamilton looked unbeatable in the qualifying and raced to pole position at the Italian Grand Prix for the third consecutive year on Saturday. The defending Formula One champion also equalled the record of five poles at Monza held by greats Ayrton Senna and Juan Manuel Fangio.
The 31-year-old, who is looking to finish the Europe leg on a high, edged out his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by a staggering margin of 0.478s to take the 56th pole of his career. The two drivers will start from the front row of the grid.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel finished with the third fastest time while his teammate Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth for their home race but the gap between them and the two Mercedes drivers was considerably big.
Williams' Valtteri Bottas finished fifth with a best time of 1:22.388s, while Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo will join the Fin to occupy the third row. Max Verstappen, who has been grabbing all the limelight with his aggressive defending tactics, managed to finish seventh behind his teammate Ricciardo. Force India's Sergio Perez ended up eighth in the qualifying.
Hamilton now looks favourite to extend the nine-point lead over his German teammate in the Sunday's race at Monza. The Brit, who is also eyeing a 50th Grand Prix win, revealed he never believed he would equal Senna, Fangio's feat. "Incredibly proud and honoured to be up amongst Senna and Juan Manuel. Incredible drivers. I never in a million years thought my name would be mentioned in the same sentence as theirs," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
"I'm obviously very happy today. I was only made aware of that record as I came into this weekend. I came with my A-game today, and that last lap felt incredible," Hamilton added.
The leader of the pack came up with a dominant time of 1:21.135s which left four-time champion Vettel worried and awestruck at the same time. "I am not entirely happy because the gap is quite big, the guys ahead are in a world of their own," he said.
Meanwhile, Jenson Button was in the center of the action on Saturday as he announced he would not race in 2017 but would remain brand ambassador with McLaren. He could get back to the track in 2018, according to the BBC.
Qualifying results from Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix 2016 at Monza
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes - 1:21.135s
Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes - 1:21.613s
Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari - 1:21.972s
Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari - 1:22.065s
Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams - 1:22.388s
Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull - 1:22.389s
Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull - 1:22.411s
Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India - 1:22.814s
Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India - 1:22.836s
Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Haas F1 - 1:22.856s
